


Lockets of Love

by AnnaOnTheMoon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hermione's Nook's Lovebirds Fest 2021, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Sirius Bashing, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29142099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaOnTheMoon/pseuds/AnnaOnTheMoon
Summary: Dumbledore declares a "Valentine's Week" celebration the week leading up to Valentine's day during Remus and Severus' sixth year.  One of their projects will reveal their true love to them and a letter on Valentine's day if that love is returned. Will they receive letters from each other?
Relationships: Remus Lupin/Severus Snape
Comments: 13
Kudos: 31
Collections: Hermione's Nook Lovebirds Fest





	Lockets of Love

**Author's Note:**

> canon notes are sketchy over the Shrieking Shack incident. For the purpose of my story, it took place early in their sixth year.

Remus Lupin hefted his schoolbag onto his shoulder and shuffled through the myriad of pink, red, purple, and orange hearts that littered the floor and desks of the charms classroom – some still even flitting around as if they were butterflies. It was Monday, January seventh, and Remus knew he was in for a solid week of ridiculous Valentine’s Day spells and other lessons as the headmaster had declared it to be “Valentine’s Week” – culminating with a ball on the Saturday since Valentine’s Day fell on a Monday that year. The full moon had been a few days ago, and Remus was still feeling a bit on edge – especially since his supposed best friend, Sirius Black, had joined him that month and he had spent the majority of the night being held at bay by their other friend, James Potter, to not rip out Sirius’ throat.

Several months ago, Sirius had played a “prank” on a fellow student – one that he didn’t like, but that Remus had always found himself drawn too. The prank the previous October had involved sending the student to the Shrieking Shack during a full moon – the location where Remus used when he transformed into a Werewolf once every twenty-eight days. James had heard Sirius taunting the other student and had quickly ran through the tunnel that connected the Shack with the Hogwarts grounds and managed to pull the student away before Remus’ wolf form had snapped his jaws around the other boy. That boy’s name was Severus Snape.

###

Severus Snape sneered as he fished a paper pink heart that was still fluttering out of his long, oily hair and crushed it in his hand before throwing it on the floor after Charms. As far as he was concerned, Valentine’s Day was an insignificant Muggle holiday and one that wasn’t even worth celebrating. Especially if you were Severus Snape. 

Severus was in his sixth year at Hogwarts and while he had been attracted to someone since his third year he had never done anything about it. He had just been getting up his nerve to say something a few months ago when someone had noticed Severus following his crush and they managed to pull the rug completely out from under him and it turned his feelings of love – or at least, strong like – into near hatred, though the more he thought about it, it wasn’t _exactly_ Remus Lupin’s fault. It had been Sirius Black who had done the luring, and Remus had claimed that he was completely unaware of the plans or he would have told the school matron, Madame Pomfrey, before she escorted him to the Shack. At first, Severus accused the other boy of lying, but he was also well aware of how impossible it was to actually lie in front of the Headmaster. Either way, Severus had hurled some pretty nasty words at the other boy and had told the boy to stay away from him. This was, in hindsight, not exactly conducive to trying to start a relationship with said boy. Severus fished out a book from his bag and buried his nose in it while he shuffled out of the Charms classroom and down the corridor to his next class. Maybe if he didn’t look up, he wouldn’t be noticed.

###

Remus shuddered as he felt an arm come around his neck pulling him towards another body. 

“So, Moony, who are you taking to the ball?” Remus rolled his eyes and carefully extracted himself from Sirius’ hold. 

“No one. I’m not going.” Sirius whirled in front of his friend, blocking his way forward in the corridor. He put his hands on his hips.

“Not going? But of course you’re going. All the Marauders are. Do you need a date? I bet I can find a dozen girls who will go with you. Or would you rather go _stag?_ ” Sirius raised his eyebrows and Remus simply rolled his eyes again. “Right. Wrong animal. Sorry.” Remus shook his head.

“I said I’m not going, and I meant what I said. I have no interest in Valentine’s Day, Valentine’s cards, or a Valentine’s ball. Now please get out of my way, I have to get to class.” 

“Oh.” Sirius puffed out his chest. “I know. You want to take _me_ , don’t you?”

“No.” 

“ _I think the lady doth protest too much.”_ Remus reached forward and shoved Sirius to one side. 

“One, I’m not a lady-“

“Could have fooled me, mate. Way you’re acting.” Remus glared.

“and _two_ , I’m not interested in you as a lover _or_ a friend right now. Please leave me alone.” Remus stalked past the shocked Sirius and moved down the hallway. Sirius soon jogged to catch up with him.

“Aw, come on, Moony. It’s been _months_. Don’t you think you should get over it?” Remus stopped, pushed Sirius into the wall, and glared at him with cold eyes.

“’ _Get over it_ ’? Get over it?! You tried to use me to _kill_ a classmate, Sirius. I will _never_ get over it.” He dropped his hands from where he had been pushing Sirius into the wall and started to walk away again.

“Aw, come on, it was only Snivvy.” Remus’s reply was two fingers in the air.

###

Severus was standing on a small balcony off of the tower that housed Ravenclaw smoking a stolen cigarette. He often wondered why Slytherin, boasted to be the purest of all the houses, had their home in the dark, dank, dingy dungeon while Ravenclaw and Gryffindor occupied towers. Even Hufflepuff was located in the basement near the warm kitchens. But the dungeon rooms were always cold and damp. He shivered slightly. Not like it was any warmer outside in February, but at least he could use a heating charm sufficiently. Heating charms in the dungeon, even ones cast after the bed curtains were closed, never seemed to work properly. He looked down at his other hand and the brooch it contained. 

The brooch had been today’s Transfiguration lesson, transfiguring a stone into a heart-shaped locket. The following day they were going to learn a charm that went along with the brooch that would apparently show them their true love’s reflection and, if they were lucky, it would put a letter describing their feelings into the brooch that would open on Valentine’s Day at midnight. Severus felt this was only designed to create heartache among the students. Besides, who had a true love at sixteen, anyway? McGonagall and Flitwick were working jointly on the project, while Slughorn had them making ridiculous love potions. Severus shoved the brooch into his pocket and pulled out the vial of Amortentia he made in class. He flicked the spent cigarette off the balcony before he popped open the cork and sniffed deeply. Dusty books, fur, and blood. Well, no one said the odours were pleasant, merely that they smelled like your true love. 

###

Remus said the spell McGonagall and Flitwick had given them – _Cor meum apertum est, cor meum exspecto, cor meum revelare_ – with the appropriate swish and flick and waited as his brooch turned in the air in front of him, glowed a bright red, and then rested back onto the desk. Sirius snatched up Remus’ brooch before he had a chance to look at it and pried the heart-shaped locket open. 

“I don’t see anything. You must have done the charm wrong.” Professor McGonagall glared at Sirius.

“Mister Black. Is that your brooch?” Sirius looked at the transfiguration professor sheepishly.

“No.” McGonagall’s eyes were drawn to the desk and to Sirius’ less than perfect heart.

“I see. Please give Mister Lupin back his brooch.” Sirius flung the brooch back onto the desk.

“He did it wrong, anyway. There’s nothing in it.”

“Mister Lupin, you may open your brooch. You do not need to tell me who, only tell me if you see someone reflected in it.” Remus carefully picked up the brooch and closed his eyes as he gently pried open the heart. He peeked out of one eye. There was a face. He blushed, but slowly nodded at his professor. 

“Let me see!” Sirius reached for the brooch, but McGonagall was faster and froze Sirius in place. 

“Mister Black. It is up to Mister Lupin if he wishes to reveal the contents to you. I suggest you concentrate on your own. Perhaps you will at least receive a pass for today. Full marks, Mister Lupin.” Remus grinned. He had to admit, it was kind of funny that while Sirius had managed the spell to transform into a dog quite easily, he struggled with regular transfigurations. Remus pocketed his brooch. He doubted a letter would appear, given whose reflection was contained in it, but it would make a nice gift for his mum for Mother’s Day if he covered the reflection with a picture of himself.

In Potions class, Remus was pleasantly surprised to receive full marks for his Amortentia, with only a few points taken off for the colour being slightly off. He had been sure he had messed up the potion because when he gave it a sniff before bottling it all he could smell was musky cologne, a smell of damp, and cigarettes. It wasn’t surprising considering nearly every sixth year boy doused himself with some form of cheap cologne, they all smoked covertly, and they attended potions class in the damp dungeons. Still, if his brooch was right, then maybe his Amortentia was, too. He pocketed the vial despite Slughorn’s orders to destroy the potions. He knew he wouldn’t be feeding it to anyone, but it might be nice to sniff it again. Maybe it would smell different now. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sirius teasing James over what his might smell like and he sighed. Sirius would never grow up. He was as sure of that as he was that the person he wanted to be with would reject him. 

###

Severus scowled at the mirror. He hadn’t planned on attending the ball, but he was essentially being forced to since his Transfigured brooch showed his ‘true love’. He snorted. There was no way the other boy had feelings for him, but thinking about the smell of his Amortentia, he wasn’t surprised. Remus Lupin loved to read as much as he did, and the fur and blood smells he associated with that night in the Shrieking Shack. But – did he actually _love_ the teenage werewolf? Severus didn’t really know what love meant. He certainly never saw love between his parents. He occasionally would see Mister Evans present Mrs Evans with flowers if he was over visiting Lily when they were younger, and he supposed that was love. Of course, he also thought he loved Lily from the time he was eight until he was thirteen and realised that he probably liked boys more than girls. Did Lupin like boys, too? He bet he didn’t. There was no way, not with friends like Black and Potter, that Lupin could possibly be bent. Severus pinned the ridiculous brooch to the front of his waistcoat – no money for dress robes in his household, just an old waistcoat he found in OxFam over the Summer – tied his hair back with a broken shoelace, and slowly made his way to the great hall. At least there would be food, and perhaps some idiot would spike the punch to liven things up.

As the time approached midnight, Remus was bouncing on his toes. He shouldn’t be getting excited, but what if Severus loved him, too? What would happen if they both read their letters? Would Severus seek him out? Would he need to find him? Would he get to kiss Severus Snape? Remus scanned the Great Hall, wanting to find the boy and move closer to him. He spotted Sirius with his flavour of the week, James trying to convince Lily to dance with him, and Peter being lectured by McGonagall over spiking the punch with muggle vodka. He spotted Severus near the door and decided to head towards him, just in case. If there was no note in his locket, at least he’d be near the exit for a quick getaway. 

Severus saw Remus walking towards the door and his mouth went dry. Was he walking over because he already knew Severus’ letter would be in his brooch and he wanted to be nearby to laugh at him? Severus panicked and inched closer to the door. At least if he made it into the corridor, he could make a run for the dungeons at midnight when his own brooch didn’t reveal a matching love letter. He would tell Lupin it had been a joke. A prank. He would blame it on McNair, or Avery. Maybe even try to pin it on his best friends. After all, he saw Sirius try to look at Lupin’s locket in class. He watched Lupin reach a hand up to brush some of his sandy hair to one side and he bit back a groan. It was so unfair. Why did he have to be attracted to the werewolf?

Remus tried to smile at Severus, but it wound up looking like a grimace and he quickly moved his hand into his hair to pretend he was upset with his hair. _Why is he looking at me? What if he knows I love him?_ Remus began to panic. It wasn’t midnight yet, but what if Severus somehow knew? What if a letter showed up in Severus’ locket but not his own and Severus used the letter to make fun of him? He glanced at the large clock on the wall. Two minutes. Maybe he could figure out how to sink into the stone floor in the next two minutes and save himself the embarrassment. Should he go and bump into Severus and try to pull his brooch off? 

The whole room soon began the countdown and Remus saw Severus duck out of the door. He followed him, though he didn’t know why. He knew his feelings wouldn’t be returned. 

The clock struck.

There were loud gasps, accompanied by slaps, cries, and some kissing noises from the great hall. Severus gingerly removed the pin from his waistcoat and stared at it. 

Remus found his voice and cleared his throat. “Aren’t you going to open it?” Severus shrugged.

“Are you going to open yours?” Suddenly, Remus panicked. The spell hadn’t said that it would definitely send your words to the person you loved. Only if they loved you, too, right? What if there was a letter from someone _else_ in Severus’ brooch? Remus didn’t know if he wanted to know. He swallowed and rubbed his hands against his robes. 

“I….uhm….” Severus saw the panic in Remus’ eyes. He knew. He had to know. He knew and he was here to let Severus down gently and privately. Severus held his hand out.

“We could…open each other’s?” Severus was calm. If Remus agreed to swap brooches, then the whole thing could be avoided. Severus could simply tell him the locket was empty while pocketing his letter. Crisis averted, and he wouldn’t have to worry about Remus going and telling his friends to give them more fuel to make fun of him with. Unless….. 

Severus dropped his hand. “Why don’t we just forget opening these stupid lockets? We could go out and throw them in the lake and forget all about them. What do you think?” 

“Er….” Well, that was interesting. It seemed that Severus didn’t want Remus to open his as much as he didn’t want Severus to open his. Could it mean he really _did_ have a letter from the other boy? “It’s cold out. We don’t have our cloaks.” Severus raised an eyebrow. 

“I think we can come up with a few ways to stay warm.” He knew he was blushing. Remus reached out his hand and lightly clasped his. Remus smiled. 

“I think so, too.” 

###FIN###

**Author's Note:**

> spell translation –  
> My heart is open  
> My heart is waiting  
> My heart is revealed


End file.
